


How Love Goes

by Chelsea Frew (chelseafrew)



Category: Days of Our Lives
Genre: Head Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:19:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseafrew/pseuds/Chelsea%20Frew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will is attacked on his way home from class one day. Will this pull Sonny back into his orbit?</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Love Goes

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this more quickly than anything I've written in a very long while. I was inspired by total speculation somewhere that Will might be physically hurt during this whole baby mess. My thanks to Cori Lannam for the moral support and speedy beta. Any mistakes left are mine and mine alone. The title of this story is shamelessly stolen from Kris Allen's song "Teach Me How Love Goes."

Sonny skidded to a halt outside the waiting room adjoining the Emergency Room. The room was filled with a variety of Hortons and Bradys, some of whom might not be thrilled to see him. He wasn't Will's boyfriend anymore, and he wasn't exactly sure how many of Will's relatives might think he broke Will's heart.

The mood in the room was tense. Everyone looked deeply worried. Sami was crying and Marlena was trying to comfort her. Hope was in the corner talking to Abby intensely. Kate and Eric were deep in conversation in another corner. 

It was Lucas who spotted him first. "Sonny!" He came over and gestured that the room was safe to enter.

"What's going on? Cameron texted and told me I had to come right away."

"Will was attacked on his way home from class."

It felt to Sonny as if every last bit of air was sucked from his lungs. He couldn't breathe. He felt Lucas touch his arm and heard him ask, "Are you okay?" But Lucas's touch felt like ice, and his words felt as if they were coming from a great distance.

It took Sonny a long, painful moment to feel able to ask the question foremost in his mind. "How bad is it?"

"They were waiting for him near Sami's with a baseball bat and a tire iron. They meant to do some serious harm, and they did. They might have killed him if Abby hadn't shown up to get some notes from Will. They ran as soon as they saw her."

"What did the doctors say?"

"They haven't been in to say much. Cameron did come in to let us know Will is in pretty serious condition. He took at least one blow to his head."

With a baseball bat. Or a tire iron. That not-able-to-breathe feeling returned with a vengeance.

"Deep breaths, Sonny," Lucas urged. "No passing out on me here."

Sonny worked hard to do as Lucas suggested, pulling in deep, ragged breaths until he felt steadier.

"How long ago was he brought in?" Sonny asked.

"About an hour ago."

An hour ago. He had been on a break at that time, sipping a cup of coffee and surfing the internet. He had been aimlessly searching for some random, inane thing while the person he cared more about than almost anyone was being beaten nearly to death. The coffee and everything else he had eaten that day almost made a reappearance. He pulled in another few deep breaths through his nose to quell the nausea.

At that moment Cameron entered the room with another doctor, a young woman Sonny didn't recognize. All noise in the room stopped, and all eyes fixed upon the newcomers at once.

"This is Dr. Serena Bladesdale," Cameron introduced his colleague. "She's one of our finest ER doctors."

Dr. Bladesdale cleared her throat. "Will is being prepped for surgery right now. He has several injuries which need attention, but we want to get in right away to relieve some pressure building in his skull."

Sami immediately placed herself in front of the doctor and unconsciously echoed Sonny's question of just moments earlier. "How bad is it?"

"It looks like Will sustained one solid blow to the head on the left side of his forehead. He has multiple contusions on his arms and legs. We won't know for sure until we take some x-rays, but we believe his left wrist may be broken, and he may have at least one broken rib."

Sami would have fallen over if Lucas hadn't gotten to her side in time.

"What we are most concerned about is the head injury," the doctor went on. "Once we can relieve the pressure there and get him stable, we can deal with the fractures."

Sonny was in hell. This had to be hell. There was no other description for what it was like to hear the litany of injuries Will had suffered. If Sonny ever got his hands on the people responsible, he would rip them limb from limb.

"I have to get ready for the surgery myself," Dr. Bladesdale told them. "I'll be back to let you know how he's doing."

It was three hours before she came back.

Sonny passed the time by pacing, thumbing through every magazine in the room, checking his phone repeatedly for messages and e-mail, talking a little bit more to Lucas and subsequently to Marlena and Abby. Sonny was grateful that none of Will's family members seemed to mind him being there. Several of them, in fact, seemed to truly appreciate his presence.

He was sitting in a chair in a corner trying to zone out when Dr. Bladesdale reappeared.

Everyone immediately moved to hear what she had to say. Sonny hung toward the back, wanting to hear, but not wanting to take the place of one of Will's relatives.

"We've managed to relieve the pressure inside Will's skull," the doctor explained. The sound of several people exhaling in relief could be heard. "We've also splinted his wrist and wrapped his rib. We're going to wait until he's out of the woods before doing more intensive work on his arm."

"Out of the woods?" Marlena echoed.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Will is in a coma."

The sighs of relief morphed into gasps, and Sonny was barely aware of covering his mouth with his left hand to stifle his own reaction.

"Oh my God!" Sami cried.

"He will come out of it, won't he?" Lucas questioned the doctor.

"It's too early to make any predictions," she told him. "The blow he took was very severe. But he's young, he's otherwise healthy, and he got here fast so we could work on him right away. We just have to watch and see. The first twenty-four to forty-eight hours are critical."

"Can I see him?" Sami asked.

"They're getting him settled into the ICU now. As soon as that's done, a nurse will be by to get you. He can only have a few visitors right now, okay? Some of you will have to wait."

Sami nodded her understanding.

"The nurse should be down within the hour." The doctor reached out to touch Sami's hand. "He's strong. I can tell he's a fighter, and he has a lot of support. That will work in his favor."

Sami nodded. "Thank you."

Everyone broke off into little groups to digest the news, leaving Sonny alone with his thoughts.

This couldn't be real. How could Will be so grievously injured? Just a few days ago, they'd been starting to get the hang of this new "just being friends" thing, sharing ear buds and listening to the music Sonny had had put on the mp3 player he'd forgotten to cancel the order for. Will was so excited about the baby girl he was having with Gabi, he practically glowed when he talked about it. Who would do this to Will? Who hated Will enough that they would try to kill him?

Before he knew it, a nurse appeared. She said Will could have no more than three visitors. Sami and Lucas stepped forward. Sonny fully expected Marlena to take that third spot, but Sami searched Sonny out and locked gazes with him. "Sonny, will you come with us?"

"Me?" Sonny pointed to himself.

Sami nodded and offered him a small smile. "Will loves you more than anyone in the world. I'm pretty sure that includes me and his dad, too. He needs to hear your voice. He needs to know you're here."

Sonny swallowed the lump which rose in his throat and nodded. He shifted his gaze to Marlena, to make sure she was on board with this plan. She, too, offered him a small smile as she nodded. "You go, honey. I'll see him next time."

Sonny smiled gratefully back at her, fighting tears, then moved to follow Sami, Lucas, and the nurse, who introduced herself as Caitlyn. She led them into the elevator and up two floors to the ICU.

Before they walked onto the ward, she warned them, "Will is hooked up to a lot of machines. It can seem pretty scary. They had to shave part of his hair off to get to the head injury, and there are a lot of bandages along with lots of bumps and bruises."

Sami, Lucas, and Sonny nodded their understanding.

"Will he be able to hear us?" Sami asked.

"No one really knows what coma patients are aware of. But since we don't know, we like to assume they can hear what's going on around them, so we encourage people to talk to their loved ones."

"Can we see him now?" Lucas asked.

Caitlyn nodded. "You'll have ten minutes."

With no more preamble, Caitlyn led the small group into the ICU to the bed closest to the window.

Sonny was glad the nurse had warned them about Will's state, otherwise the reality would have been a shock. Will looked so small on the bed. More wires than Sonny cared to count wended their way from various places on Will's body to nearby machines. The crisp, white sheet folded across Will's stomach was a stark contrast to his unclothed torso, which was covered in large, angry bruises. His left wrist was encased in a splint which ran from hand to elbow. 

His face was a mess. He had a black eye and a purplish bruise which spread from his right cheek to his jaw. His blond hair peeked out from under bandages which encircled his head around his temple. It was quite literally the most horrifying thing Sonny had ever seen, and it made his heart ache and his stomach clench.

Sami was the first to make a move, taking up a post on Will's right side. Lucas sidled in next to her, so Sonny claimed a spot to Will's left. Gingerly, Sonny reached out and touched Will's left hand in a spot which seemed untouched by injury.

"Hi, baby," Sami said, her voice hitching. She leaned over and kissed his forehead just under the bandages. When she stood up straight again, she went on. "Your dad and I are here. And Sonny, too."

"We love you so much, Will," Lucas added. "You're going to get through this."

At his words, Sami fell apart, bursting into tears and collapsing in Lucas's arms. "We'll be out in the hall," Lucas told Sonny before gently ushering Sami away.

Left alone with Will, Sonny didn't quite know what to say. He cleared his throat nervously. "Will. I came as soon as Cameron told me you were here." Bereft of anything else to say immediately, he found himself running a finger up and down the length of Will's hand. After a moment, he found more words. "You're stronger than this, Will. You're stronger than you know. Fight, Will. Come back to me."

Sonny stood silent, then, just listening to Will breathe, until Nurse Caitlyn came to shoo him from the ICU.

Sonny leaned over to place a kiss on Will's temple. "I'll be back, Will. I promise."

* * *

Although he did survive them, Will did not awaken in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and as he remained trapped in a coma, Sonny's day-to-day life changed. He would go to the hospital every morning and sit with Will for an hour, then go run a shift at Common Grounds before returning to the hospital in the early evening for another hour with Will.

Will had been moved from the ICU into a private room on his third day in the hospital. This allowed for the longer stays with Will, for which all of his relatives--and Sonny--were grateful. Sonny usually set his chair up near the head of the bed on Will's right side. He liked to hold Will's hand as he spoke to him, and Will's right hand was unencumbered. His left was in a cast now, his wrist fracture having been set.

During some visits Sonny would read to Will from a newspaper or a magazine, sometimes from websites he pulled up on his phone. Other times, he would just sit and talk to Will, recounting happier times, and willing him to wake up. But Will was being stubborn for one reason or another, and he continued to stay frustratingly unconscious.

After two weeks had passed, the doctors assured them that Will could still wake up, but they did warn that he could suffer some effects of both the blow he sustained and the extended coma. Sonny shuddered at the thought of Will emerging from the deep sleep changed. So he tried to focus on the image of Will waking up still Will.

The seventeenth day Will was in the hospital was a Thursday. Sonny grabbed the book he'd ordered from Amazon specifically to read to Will and headed out for his morning visit.

That morning, Sonny wasn't in the mood to read right away. Instead, he set the book he'd brought on a nearby table and took Will's hand in his own. Before sitting down, he leaned down and kissed Will's cheek, finally healed from the bruises he'd been given. "Good morning, Will," he whispered in his ear.

He took his seat, still grasping Will's hand. "I miss you so much," he confessed. "Every day I keep waiting for you to come to the coffee house, then I remember why you don't."

Sonny pulled in a deep breath. "I should have told you, Will. I should have told you that I'm still in love with you. I've never stopped being in love with you. Maybe if I had told you you would have come to the coffee house before going home that day and you wouldn't have been hurt."

It was the first time Sonny had said it out loud. He had spent the last week and a half wracked with guilt, convinced that if he hadn't been so proud, so intent upon clinging to his pain, Will might not have been attacked. He fought back tears as he went on, "I'm so sorry, Will. I still wish you could have felt like you could trust me with the truth about the baby, but I think I understand why you did what you did. What we had was amazing. I don't want to waste any more time. You need to wake up so we can pick things back up from where they were the morning of the wedding. Your key is still in my pocket."

He paused for a moment, praying for Will to open his eyes and tell Sonny he wanted to start over, too. But Will remained still.

"It's okay," Sonny assured him. "You take your time. I know you'll come back to me when you're ready."

Sonny released his hold on Will and retrieved the book he'd brought and opened up to chapter one. As he began to read, a soft moan came from the bed. In his surprise, Sonny dropped the book and immediately reached for Will's hand once again. "Will?"

Another moan from the bed had Sonny out of his seat and reaching for the call button to get a nurse. "Will? I'm right here, Will. Can you open your eyes?"

Will's hand twitched inside Sonny's and slowly, slowly, his eyelids fluttered open. A lump instantly formed in Sonny's throat at the sight of those beautiful blue eyes. He smiled as Will's gaze fell upon his face. "Hi there."

Will didn't say anything. The look on his face was one of pure confusion.

"You're in the hospital," Sonny quickly explained. "You had an accident."

At this point, a nurse arrived on the scene. She shooed Sonny out of the way to examine Will. Sonny took the opportunity to step out into the hall to call Sami and tell her Will was awake.

The nurse called Will's doctor, a Dr. Hammond, and Sonny was not allowed back into the room until the doctor had had a chance to assess Will's condition. By the time the doctor was done, Sami had arrived at the hospital.

"How is he?" Sami accosted the doctor the minute he stepped out of Will's room.

"His vital signs are good. He seems alert, aware of his surroundings."

"That's good, isn't it?" Sonny asked.

"Yes," Dr. Hammond said, but his tone was guarded.

"I hear a 'but' in your voice," Sami said.

The doctor pulled in a deep breath, as if preparing to deliver bad news. "It's too soon to tell how much, but I believe Will has suffered some damage from the injury he sustained when he was attacked."

"Damage?" Sami questioned. Sonny could tell from the strain in her voice that she was having to fight to hold herself together.

"I will want to run more tests, but he appears to have some weakness on his right side and he is also having a lot of difficulty speaking. I suspect he may have aphasia, which can be the result of a brain injury such as the one Will had."

Sami gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. Sonny instantly wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her.

"Aphasia?" Sonny had only vaguely heard of the condition before.

"Like I said, I would like to perform some more tests, but from my initial examination, I believe Will is suffering from expressive aphasia. He seems to comprehend things which are said to him, but is struggling with his ability to speak himself."

"Will he get better?" Sonny wanted to know.

The doctor nodded. "I think so. I've seen others recover from similar injuries. It won't be easy; he'll have to work hard, and he'll need a lot of support, but he has a good chance."

Sonny had one last question. "Can we go in now?"

"Yes. He's pretty tired and needs to rest, so don't expect much right now, but go in and assure him you're here for him. I'll be back to check on him later."

"Thank you," Sami said before reaching for the door handle.

Will was still awake when Sami and Sonny entered the room, but as the nurse finished up disconnecting a few of the machines surrounding Will and Sami and Sonny took up stations on either side of the bed, it was obvious that Will was exhausted.

"Hi, baby," Sami greeted him, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "I am beyond happy to see those gorgeous eyes again."

Will opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Sami immediately put a hand out to cup his face. "Shh. The doctor says you need to rest. There's nothing you need to say right now."

Will shifted his gaze to Sonny. Sonny smiled despite his worry about the doctor's diagnosis and said, "She's right, Will. You need to rest." When Will once again tried to speak, Sonny shook his head. "It's okay, Will. Close your eyes. Your mom and I will be here when you wake up. Probably a dozen other people, too. You'll need your energy."

Will stared into Sonny's eyes for another few moments before giving in to the exhaustion. He closed his eyes and his breathing deepened and evened out within minutes.

Sonny looked across the bed at Sami. "He's going to be fine, Sami."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know Will." And because anything less than full recovery was completely, utterly unacceptable.

* * *

The day started with welcome news. The Salem police had caught two men in connection with Will's attack. Abby had been summoned to the police station, and she had positively identified the men as the ones who had laid in wait for Will. The men had been pretty quick to throw Nick Fallon under the bus, stating that Nick had hired them to kill Will. Nick was arrested at the pub and had been given no choice but to confess that he had wanted Will out of the way so he and Gabi could raise her baby on their own. It was a relief to know Will was now safe from the threat of another attack.

Since Will had awoken from his coma three weeks before, Sonny had made sure to visit every day. Will was in the throes of daily physical therapy and daily speech therapy. Neither was easy, and Sonny wanted Will to know he had Sonny's unbridled support.

There were days Will seemed happy to see Sonny, but just as often there were days Will was frustrated and wanted nothing to do with anyone who wanted to pay him a visit. It was impossible to predict which he would find on any given day, but Sonny wasn't about to give up on Will. Every day he went to the hospital hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.

When he arrived, Will was working with an occupational therapist on using utensils to eat his lunch. Sonny could tell instantly that Will was frustrated. His brow was wrinkled, his lips were pursed firmly, and his shoulders were hunched over in defeat even as he tried to manipulate the fork with his right hand. Jake would not allow Will to use his left hand, which was still casted, but had none of the weakness of his right. It was not an unusual sight for the last few weeks. The therapist was trying to be encouraging, but Sonny knew Will was past hearing him.

Sonny knocked on the frame of the door, gaining both Will's and the therapist's attention. The therapist, Jake--Sonny had run into him in Will's room several times--offered an exaggerated smile. "Sonny! Hi."

Sonny immediately worked to match the therapist's brightness. It was clearly that kind of day. "Hi, Jake. Hi, Will."

"We're just finishing up here," Jake informed Sonny. "Will's doing a great job."

Sonny walked over and patted Will on the shoulder. "Of course he is."

When Will shrugged Sonny's hand away, Sonny tried not take offense. Will had been dealt a shitty hand.

"Just one more bite, Will, and we can call it a day," Jake said. When Will made to switch the fork from his right hand to his left, Jake shook his head. "Keep it in your right hand, Will. You can do this. I know you can."

Will snorted, but he furrowed his brow and concentrated his gaze on his right hand and on stabbing the last green bean on his plate with the fork. After a moment, he got it, and he lifted it to his mouth. Finally, he decisively put the fork down on the plate, done fighting with it.

"Super, Will. Even better than yesterday," Jake praised. He rose from where he'd been perched on the bed opposite Will, the tray table in between them. "And tomorrow will be better than today. See you then." He patted Will on the back, gave Sonny a quick nod, and he was gone.

Sonny pushed the tray table to the side and took a seat on the bed so he was facing Will. Smiling widely, he gave a second greeting. "Hi."

It took several seconds, but Will finally got out a soft, "Hi."

The aphasia Will was suffering from was, by far, the most devastating of the aftereffects of the attack. The weakness he had on his right side was difficult, to be sure, but the frustration brought on by that paled in comparison to that brought on by trying to speak. Every word was a struggle, made worse by the fact that it was clear Will knew the things he wanted to say. He just couldn't get the words to come easily.

Will's speech therapist, Sheryl, had sat down with Sami, Lucas, Marlena, and Sonny--the four people who spent the most time with Will--and she had explained that they needed to encourage Will to speak, even if it was difficult. They should try to ask questions which would require more than a nod or shake of the head. They also needed to try not to finish Will's sentences, tempting though it was to help him out. She had assured them that he would improve--probably daily--but it would take a lot of hard work and patience.

"So, it looked like you were doing great with the fork there," Sonny observed.

Will just shrugged. Even before the attack, Will had never been one to toot his own horn.

"Who else has been to visit today?" Sonny asked.

Several more seconds passed. "Grandma…Marlena…come…came."

"I love your Grandma Marlena. What did you two talk about?"

"We…. We…," Will shook his head, indicating he couldn't--or wouldn't--go on. Blue eyes pleaded with Sonny not to make him.

It took everything Sonny had to not give in. "You can do it, Will. Just take your time. Separate the words and let them out one at a time. Remember, there's no rush."

After a moment, Will's next hesitant word was, "Why?"

"Why what, baby?"

Will pulled in a deep breath. "Why…you…hair…," he shook his head, clearly mad at himself for the error, "…here?"

"Why am I here? You mean why am I here visiting you?" Sonny confirmed.

Will nodded.

Sonny reached out to take Will's right hand in his left, caressing the back of Will's hand with his thumb. "Because I love you. I never stopped loving you."

Will shook his head, pulled his hand away, and hauled in another deep breath. "But…I…lay…lied. I…lied."

Sonny nodded somberly. "I know. And I was hurt. But I think I understand why you did it. You were just trying to do what you thought was best for the baby. And you were trying to keep what we had. Am I right?"

Will nodded. With a frown, he pushed forward, offering more words than he usually did during a conversation these days. "I'm…not…same. You…shall…should…go."

"Are you talking about this," Sonny reached out to reclaim Will's hand, squeezing it tightly, "and this?" He touched the index finger of his free hand to Will's lips.

Will nodded, pain evident in his eyes.

Sonny shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Doesn't change who you are."

"Does," Will insisted firmly.

Sonny shook his head equally as firmly. "Doesn't. You are still the same person I spent almost an entire year trying to make mine. This," he tapped Will's lips again, "is going to get better. And even if it didn't, I would still want to be with you."

A skeptical look shadowed Will's features.

"I love you, Will. I'm not going anywhere." He grinned playfully. "And you can't make me."

Softly, Will forced out, "Sonny?"

"What?"

"I…love…you."

Will had barely gotten the words out before Sonny leaned over to kiss him. It was the first kiss they had shared in a very long while, one full of passion and promise, a sweet reminder of what they had between them.

When they parted for breath, Sonny said, "Now you never did tell me what you and Marlena talked about."

"Who…cares?" Will told him before placing both of his hands behind Sonny's face to pull him in for another kiss. They had a lot of lost time to make up for.

End (19 February 2013)


End file.
